8 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, 1 appendix.-- Full-text version available Open Access at: http://www.icm.csic.es/files/oce/almacen/papers/AR-2008-29.pdfImages from an Argus beach monitoring station were analyzed to count the number of people on two city beaches in Barcelona (NW Mediterranean) every hour for 4 years. Daily, weekly, seasonal, and interannual user distribution patterns were clearly established. Two different fit models were applied to the data based on a Fourier polynomial and nonlinear criteria, including external factors such as temperature and wind conditions, as well as predisposition factors. Finally, the evolution of beach users was compared with morphological beach changes caused by natural processes and human action. The results demonstrated that video observations provide a suitable method for counting people on the beach that could be useful for a number of coastal management applications.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology within the project PUDEM (REN2003-06637-C02). E. Ojeda is supported by a University Professors Formation grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer reviewe

Thirty-year time series of hindcast wave data were analysed for 10 coastal locations along the eastern Mexican coast to obtain information about storm events occurring in the region, with the goal of examining the possible presence of interannual trends in the number of storm-wave events and their main features (wave height, duration and energy content). The storms were defined according to their significant wave height and duration, and the events were classified as related to either tropical cyclones or Norte events. The occurrence and characteristics of both types of events were analysed independently. There is no statistically significant change in the number of storm-wave events related to Nortes or their characteristics during the study period. However, there is a subtle increase in the number of events related to tropical cyclones in the western Caribbean region and a more evident increase in wave height and energy content of these events.

The dynamics of single submerged sandbars of two artificial embayed beaches (La Barceloneta and Bogatell, Barcelona, NW Mediterranean) has been studied with a video-recorded data set of 4.3 years. The alongshore-averaged cross-shore migration, the orientation with respect the shoreline and the sinuosity of the barlines have been analyzed and related to wave conditions, alongshore sediment transport and shoreline variability.Postprint (published version